When drilling through hard surfaces such as rocks or stone, many times it is desirable to impart a reciprocating motion to the drill bit to facilitate drilling. This hammering motion of the drill bit helps break up the material while the rotating of the drill bit allows the broken up material to be removed from the hole being drilled.
A conventional hammer drill has a motor disposed in a housing, and the motor includes an armature shaft having a pinion at its end. The pinion drives an output gear that is fixed about the output shaft of the hammer drill in the case of a single reduction drill. In the case of a double reduction drill, the pinion drives an intermediate shaft which in turn drives the output shaft. A drill chuck is mounted on the output shaft to receive a drill bit. An impact mechanism which provides the hammering action is associated with the face of the output gear. A ratchet face or similar mechanism on the face of the output gear abuts a cooperating mechanism that is affixed to the drill housing. A reciprocating motion is then imparted to the drill bit when the output shaft rotates.
It is also well known in the art to provide hammer drills with the capability to switch between a conventional drilling mode, with rotation only, and a hammer drilling mode employing conventional drill rotation along with a hammer action. The hammer drill is capable of switching between the two modes, and thus eliminates the need for a separate conventional drill. An example of an adjustment mechanism for switching between conventional drilling mode and hammer drilling mode is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,205 assigned to the assignee of the present invention which is incorporated herein by reference.
A primary disadvantage associated with existing impact mechanisms for hammer drills is the fact that in order to accomplish a desired high blows per minute (BPM) for efficient hammer drill performance, an undesirable high output speed is required. High BPM can also be achieved by increasing the number of ramps on the impact mechanism. However, an increased number of impact ramps tends to produce a "skipping" effect and efficiency loss due to the smaller area of surface contact for each ramp.